1 882. J Organic Physics. 563 



tion of the cell germs is not so readily achieved, while it becomes 

 necessary for the reproductive germ to be provided by the parent 

 organism with suitable food for its first stage of development. In 

 the most advanced stage of this process the germ must be re- 

 tained and develop within the parent organism until its specializa- 

 tion has become nearly complete. This necessity adds to the 

 importance of individual life. Where the germs ask no further 

 aid from the parents, the latter cease to exist, all their strength 

 going into the germs. Where the germs ask considerable aid 

 from the parents, the latter must retain much of their vital 

 strength, and cannot completely disappear in their offspring. 

 Where, as in man, the offspring is fully developed through paren- 

 tal aid, the life vigor of the parent cannot be exhausted by that of 

 its offspring, particularly as the continuance of the species needs 

 long continued successive production of offspring. The vital 

 strength necessary for this purpose only slowly declines, and con- 

 tinues long after the period of child-bearing is past. 



Thus there is a gradual advance from the condition in which 

 all new cellular individuals become free, to that in which the greater 

 number of new individuals remain coherent. Where the organic 

 specialization is slight, the cells are more likely to be budded off 

 into the free state than to remain coherent. In such organisms 

 the reproductive power is great. Countless buds are thrown off 

 by the cells of the tissues. The aggregation of a few of these 

 suffices to yield a cell containing all the molecular conditions of 

 the parent form. Thus reproduction is specially vigorous, and 

 the life of the race greatly preponderates over that of the indi- 

 vidual. As specialization increases, this process is gradually 

 checked. Growth. power gains upon reproductive power; the life 

 °f the individual upon that of the race. Gemmules may be 

 budded off into the nutrient fluid as freely as before, but fewer of 

 them attain full generalization, as this process is a much more 

 complex one. And those which fail to do so are probably recon- 

 sumed by the body as nutriment, and go to aid the growth 

 process. 



(To be continued J 



